My Mother The Spy: Low-calorie Espionage

May 8, 2000|By TOM JICHA TV/Radio Writer

Lifetime has fulfilled its self-imposed mandate to be "television for women." It is overdue that it aspires to be "better television for women."

This is particularly true of Lifetime's monthly movies, which have been a cavalcade of mediocrity. Because of its unique mission, Lifetime has not had trouble attracting high-caliber casts, especially actresses. It just hasn't made good use of them.

My Mother the Spy is the latest in this line. The frothy caper flick can't decide if it wants to be a female James Bond flick or a takeoff on James Bond flicks. It winds up too silly to be taken seriously and not offbeat enough to qualify as a spoof. So little effort went into this visual Valium that key characters go nameless for much of the film. If this is intended to be a creative twist, it fails.

Jayne Brook plays Alison Shaeffer, a Type-A book editor saddled with an incorrigible author of spy novels, who revels in his ability to cost people like Alison their jobs. He opens their dealings with, "For the record, I despise you people," then boasts he has gotten the heads of eight editors in four years.

Alison has no better luck with the most important man in her personal life. Her boyfriend teases her that he has a special surprise that he will spring on her during their birthday night dinner date. What a surprise it turns out to be.

The only guy Alison can rely upon is her gay assistant Eric (a character type that has gone from breakthrough to clichM-i at warp speed).

A well-intentioned birthday gift from her grandmother, who is concerned about Alison's mental well-being, also turns out to harbor a hidden sting. It's supposed to be a reinvigorating getaway on a tropical isle. However, Alison arrives to find another bizarre surprise. Unbeknownst to her, her mother has been lying to her all her life about what she really does -- undercover work for the CIA. A reluctant Alison and her mother quickly become embroiled in a spy vs. spy vignette.

Dyan Cannon, who puts even less effort into this than she does Whipper on Ally McBeal, co-stars as Alison's mother Gloria, and Gloria Stuart picks up a paycheck as her grandmother without breaking a sweat.

Kevin Kilner, as a colleague of Gloria's, plays the only male who isn't evil or stupid -- and even he isn't always very bright. Fortunately for the heroines, their adversaries make the gang that couldn't shoot straight look like the KGB. They're men, so this almost goes without saying.

Movies have diminished women for years, so payback's only fair. But couldn't Lifetime do it with a little more imagination and style?